Travel - The Bingham Hotel and sunny Richmond

April 28, 2015


Have you been to Richmond before? It's one of our favourite places to visit for a day and usually go a few times of year. It's got a gorgeous park with deer, the river, Petersham Nurseries and an amazing high street. It's got everything you need from London shop and food wise, without actually being in central London and it's only about forty minutes away. But we've never stayed overnight there so when I got invited for So You're Getting Married to talk about The Bingham as a wedding venue {post here if you're interested} I jumped at the chance to stay at The Bingham Hotel which is on the river. The weather was ridiculously amazing for April and we truly felt like we had gone abroad for the day! A little travelogue ahead after our day in Kew Gardens that I wrote about last week.



We've walked past The Bingham from the river side countless times before and I nearly always comment on it, it's a gorgeous looking building and we'd tried some of their amazing food before at a pop-up restaurant at the Hampton Court Food Festival last summer. It's a Mr and Mrs Smith hotel so I always knew it was going to be something a bit special and it's famous for it's food, win win!


We were given the bridal suite for our stay, Baudelaire, which had a huge four poster bed {that I didn't want to leave!!} and panoramic views over the river. 


This was the view out of the beautiful sash window. Heaven watching the boats go up and down the river.







After checking in and looking around the hotel we decided to walk along the river into Richmond for a frozen yogurt, a bit of shopping and a wander whilst it was such a beautiful afternoon.




Richmond by the river on a sunny day is like being at the seaside or something, it just has that nice feel about it with bunting and boats and there's always lots going on.



 Everyone was loving the sunshine last week. The atmosphere is always fun on a nice day when everyone's in a good mood.


I can never resist a look around Anthropologie, Oliver Bonas and the Whole Foods Store to name a few. Love the shops in Richmond. And a compulsory stop off at The Farmery to share a frozen yogurt - salted caramel and chocolate flavour yum.


If you walk through the high street and turn left you get to Richmond Green, somewhere that I could quite happily live near. It really is such a gorgeous area.




These houses!! Heart eyes.


These houses plus magnolia blossom plus sun rays = triple heart eyes.


 


From the Green we walked back down to the river via Old Palace Lane. Aka house porn heaven. Especially at this time of year with the blossom and wisteria coming out.





I need to google how much houses cost on this street. And start saving my pennies...





I made Ben promise that next time we visit and it's sunny we'll hire a boat and row down the river somewhere. Or at least bring our bikes again and cycle down the towpath, we cycled all the way to Hampton Court once from Richmond Park.


It felt like we'd walked for miles because we'd been on our feet for so long at Kew in the morning too. So a relax at the hotel was required followed by cocktails on the terrace before dinner.


I loved the bar at The Bingham, everything was so stylish. Definitely lots of interior inspiration.



The flowers were pretty too, these daisies are super cute.





We sat outside to make the most of the weather. Ben ordered a bloody Mary and I had a rhubarb fizz.





We'd been looking forward to dinner and it didn't disappoint. We tried some of the wedding tasting menu as my trip was to promote weddings at The Bingham and it was all so incredible. 


We shared scallops with a cauliflower soup and..


.. a heirloom tomato, artichoke and olive tart for starters.



Then lamb and a pearl barley risotto for the mains.



Followed by a summer berry trifle and a salted caramel tart for dessert.


So delicious.


We finished eating just as the sun was about to set so went for another little walk up the river, The Bingham has a gate right onto the tow path out of the gardens which is handy.





 The Bingham was all lit up by the time we got back and it was dark. 



And the bar had all of the candles lit which felt cosy. It's open all night long!





Tired from our day out though we hit the sack. And I really didn't want to get up in the morning. I need a hotel bed at home.






We had a yummy breakfast of granola with yogurt and fruit followed by smoked salmon and scrambled eggs {that was a bit unnecessarily creamy for my liking but delicious nonetheless, calories don't count when on a minibreak, right?} and then a walk along the river before checking out. You can borrow Pashley bikes from the hotel which I really wanted to do but Ben wasn't allowed with his recent op, next time though.


Bye bye Bingham.


April is when all the trees suddenly look so green and leafy again. Such a pretty time of year.



 

 

Ben took these photos of me by the river as we were leaving, no idea why a couple of them are overexposed and yellow but I kind of like them! 


From Richmond, after checking out, I had a few bits of shopping to get in Kingston upon Thames {which has every single shop imaginable!!} so we parked in Bushy Park and walked through the park to Kingston and back in the sunshine before heading home for a photo shoot with Rock my Style.





The park is gorgeous and full of deer and cute ducklings. 



Such a leafy, lovely part of London full of parks and open spaces. I love Richmond. And a hugee thank you to Phoebe as ever at So You're Getting Married and the lovely Gabi at Sweetpea PR for arranging our stay on the hottest day of the year so far. Big love <3

R <3 xx 

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2 comments

  1. So many pictures of a marvelous stay! Bingham looks wonderful as a mini-break or a wedding venue! It's been a long time since my hubby and I have had a getaway like this. I must book something similar for our 13th anniversary this month!

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    1. Ah Bronywn, thanks for reading and commenting as always. So lovely to read them all. You really should plan something especially as your weather is getting much better now! I'm planning a trip to Canada next summer so will have to ask you lots about it xx

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